WA surfer's final ride takes place miles out to sea

It was a request Albany funeral director Vince Calleja had waited more than 30 years for and one he had set aside for himself "when the time comes".

A Western Australian middle aged surfer with a deep love of the ocean had died, but had left strict instructions as to where he wished to be buried — at sea.

"It's a request I've had in the back of my mind since I got into this business," Mr Calleja said.

"I knew there was always going to be a need to provide this service."

Not only are burials at sea uncommon, Mr Calleja said they also came with a fair deal of logistical navigation.

"You first have to apply with the Department of Environment and provide reasons why you wish to be buried at sea," he said.

"They then assess the application and determine whether it will be permitted, depending upon a number of factors."

Depth important when choosing burial place

According to guidelines listed on the department's website, one of those factors states the applicant ideally has a "demonstrated connection to the sea, such as long-serving navy personnel or fishermen".

People seeking to arrange a burial at sea also require a sea dumping permit.

A permit is required only for sea burial of bodies — no permit is required to scatter ashes.

I can't live too far away from it [the sea], otherwise I get cranky, so I'm looking forward to my last voyage being a long drop to the bottom of the ocean.

Vince Calleja, funeral director

Over the past six years, the department has issued 20 permits for sea burials, with the overwhelming majority (14) taking place off New South Wales.

With the necessary permits cleared, Mr Calleja shrouded the deceased man's body in "materials made of natural fibre", added 100kg of weight, and together with the man's family, shipped the body 23 nautical miles off the coast of Albany to meet another requirement — depth.

"We had to reach a spot that was at least 3000m deep, which eliminates the possibility of any remains washing up on the coastline," Mr Calleja said.

"It also reduces the chances of any remains being dragged up in the nets of a deep sea trawler."

Despite the requirements and considerable cost involved, Mr Calleja said the ceremony and final send-off was a moving one for the family and the skipper of the chartered vessel.

"It was a very intimate yet heart-warming ceremony," Mr Calleja said.

"The skipper said he was just as delighted to witness a person's final wishes being truly fulfilled."

One of many ways to go out

Mr Calleja said the rate of people choosing cremation over traditional burial had now reached 75 per cent in Australia.

He said it followed an international trend of people choosing alternatives, partly out of necessities such as dwindling burial space and the high cost of purchasing and maintaining burial sites.

Victorian woman Libby Moloney founded the Natural Death Advocacy Network after the death of her husband from cancer.

Ms Moloney said the network, which advocated for a holistic approach to dying and death, was also gaining popularity due to prohibitive costs of conventional funeral care and environmental impact.

Another method, known as 'resomation' or 'aquamation' pioneered in Sweden, involves 'boiling' the flesh from a body, leaving only bones which are then disposed of, negating the need for up to 160kg of greenhouse gases used in traditional cremations.

Fitting end to a life's love of the ocean

While Mr Calleja said he was no stranger to unusual requests for funeral services, the recent burial at sea reaffirmed his planned departure from "planet Earth".

"I've always had an affinity for the ocean," Mr Calleja said.

"I can't live too far away from it, otherwise I get cranky, so I'm looking forward to my last voyage being a long drop to the bottom of the ocean.

"It'll be a slightly different ocean experience to when I first learnt to dive, but for me, the body is just a vessel, and once that soul or spirit is no longer in the body, it just becomes an empty vessel."